The Belt of Truth

Psalm 122, finds a journey’s end that began in Psalm 120 in the Psalms of Ascent.  Psalm 120 depicting leaving the places of war to journey to God. Psalm 121 put us on the road with our eyes to God’s aid during the trip.  Psalm 122 finds us within the gates of the city of Jerusalem. For us, Jerusalem is not the city on the map, nor any city of man.  This is the city of Jerusalem that Paul calls th...

Psalm 121, one of the Songs of Ascent, is a psalm that puts us on the journey to God. God is pictured as our Keeper, and similar language to Shepherds keeping sheep.  We are given peace knowing that God will protect us and doesn’t sleep. Attention here is brought to Israel, and those who belong to Israel.  Who is Israel then? Those who hold to faith in Jesus Christ. That includes both Jew and Gent...

Psalm 120-134 begins a series of psalms known as the Belt of Truth. Today when we get in our cars for a road trip, we turn on our radio, throw in the CD and play our top 40 songs.  In ancient Israel, when the time came to go to Jerusalem for Passover. The family did the same, but as they traveled they sang these hymns.  Psalm 120 depicts realizing that we dwell among those who hate God and his Wor...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

Psalm 119 is the great Psalm on God’s Word. We could say it is the Psalm of Psalms.  It is an acrostic poem, meaning each line of text goes through the Hebrew alphabet. Each letter in the alphabet gets 8 verses before the next letter is used. In this extreme way, this Psalm is about God’s Word from A-Z.  God’s Word is also expressed in 8 ways in the psalm with different words and meanings. Law,, t...

The final Egyptian Hallel Psalm, Psalm 118, is a landmark Psalm in the Church.  This Psalm is used by Jesus during Holy Week to point to himself as the subject of the psalm, especially the stone that the builders rejected.  But in Psalm 118, an exhortation to praise God for his steadfast love is given. Then a lone voice speaks of affliction and suffering, but leans upon the LORD alone for his help...

The final Egyptian Hallel Psalm, Psalm 118, is a landmark Psalm in the Church.  This Psalm is used by Jesus during Holy Week to point to himself as the subject of the psalm, especially the stone that the builders rejected.  But in Psalm 118, an exhortation to praise God for his steadfast love is given. Then a lone voice speaks of affliction and suffering, but leans upon the LORD alone for his help...

While it is the shortest Psalm, Psalm 117 is packed with tons of terms.  It is used by St. Paul in Romans 15:11 as a way to show how the Old Testament was looking forward to the day when the Gentiles would be grafted into Israel and so we are all grafted into him.  It also shows what has come to us, namely God’s steadfast love and mercy. They are great, or they have “prevailed.” The same word here...

Psalm 116 can be summarized by two declarative statements in verse 1 and verse 10: “I love!” And “I believe!”  The I love section is the voice of Christ calling out how much he loves his Father. Indeed in John 14, Jesus states to his disciples that his obedience on the cross will showcase his love for his Father.  Because of this love, the Father responds, rescuing the psalmist from death and Sheo...

Psalm 115 compares who does what. God is the maker and the doer of the heavens. Mankind is apportioned the earth, and very often turns its attention to idols that it makes/does with its own hands.  The folly of this is compared. The LORD is the living God who does what he pleases. The idols are made and cannot do anything but are described as dead bodies. And sadly those who worship them become li...

Psalm 114 thunders on the scene as we see Israel among the nations, small, exiles. But they are brought home and delivered from the nations and are made into God’s sanctuary and people.  We see through the lens of Hebrew poetry the Red Sea parting and the Jordan River spreading apart, which is how the Exodus began and ended.  Before God the sea and the mountains tremble and quail because of him, i...

Psalm 113 is part of the Egyptian Hallel, which are psalms 113-118. These Psalms were most likely sung before the Passover Meal (113-114) and after the meal (115-118). So these hymns were what Christ sang with his disciples before the start of his passion. Psalm 113 considers the glory and exaltation of God. It is above the heavens, it is not something easily grasped though it is spread over all t...

Psalm 112 continues the theme of Psalm 111 both as an acrostic poem and also the theme of pursuing wisdom which is where the last psalm left off.  Who is the model for pursuing wisdom? The Blessed Man of Psalm 1. He is a source of wisdom and practices wisdom. This is Jesus Christ who fears God and lives rightly and is the source of righteous for all who trust in him.  As the psalm continues, peopl...

Psalm 111 and 112 are acrostic poems, each psalm verse having a letter in the Hebrew alphabet.  111-118 form a set of psalms called the Great Hallel and 113-118 being the Egyptian Hallel hymns which were most likely sung during Passover, as Jesus sang on Maundy Thursday.  The Psalm itself focuses on the work of God and references the Exodus, manna from heaven, and the promised land are mentioned a...

Psalm 110 gives us a beautiful description of everything the New Testament will reveal about the Lord Jesus Christ who in this psalm is called David’s Lord.  Psalm 110 is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, quoted directly at least 17 times and alluded to many more. This tells us that not the first Christians, psalm 110 was a favorite psalm.  In it, David’s Lord, Jesus Christ, is crowned w...

The back half of Psalm 109 continues David’s prayer to God against the enemies that seek his death. He labels them accusers who breathe out violence against him.  Of course, these accusers ultimately take the shape of the accuser, Satan. Against them we pray in all of these psalms for their evil to come back on them.  Then we pray to God for him to deliver us and save us for his own name’s sake. C...